No spam- I may have misunderstood - correct me if I'm wrong - but are you
saying the
escort aircraft would allow (or escort) the Soviet aircraft close to the
aircraft carrier so it could take pictures rather than escorting it away
from any ships? If so, why? BRBR

You weren't going to 'force' these A/C to do something they didn't want to do.
They routinely flew through the case 1 pattern, really gooning things up. This
was 'peace time', no shots across the bow or anything like that. They took pix
of us, we of them, really quite a game.
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer